Andrew had no idea what we were doing for his 30th birthday. He knew something was going on as Lana had to ask him to book a couple of weeks off work. But the rest was to be kept a secret. On the Friday night before the big day I met Andrew at the soccer to watch Adelaide United play whilst Gem helped Lana pack Andrew’s new suitcase.
Paul, Georgia, Finn and Rita came over early Saturday morning to wish Andrew a happy birthday over a birthday breakfast, and all Andrew thought was we were ready for a ‘fun day out.’ Then as he spotted his present in the corner the room, a suitcase, full of his clothes he was very suspicious. He opened it, along with a gift box form Lana which had an aeroplane inside and plane tickets! We were heading to Sydney!
He had about 30 minutes to get his head around it, grab anything he wanted to take and out the door we went as our taxi arrived to take us to the airport. His face was a picture!
We got to Sydney later that morning and picked up the minibus that we had hired for the weekend and headed towards Avalon where Lana had booked an incredible apartment for us all to stay. It looked over the bay where there must have been over 100 small boats and yachts docked.
Some of Andrew and Lana’s friends from Sydney later joined us and we all headed to the Beach House Cafe for dinner. We had a lovely meal looking out to the sunset across the beach, before heading back to the apartment again to continue Andrews birthday celebrations with a few more beers and rum.
The following day saw us at Alf’s Bait Shop for brunch where Home and Away is filmed. We were all treated by Lana as a thank you for coming out to Sydney and helping to share Andrew’s celebrations, but like we had to be thanked for that! Lana is just far too kind and we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
The weather was perfect and whilst we toyed between going out exploring more of Avalon, we decided to head back to the apartment, so the little ones could nap and us big ones were dying to take the kayaks out which were free for use in the garage. Me and Andrew went first, paddled around all the boats in the harbour right across to the other side of the bay before Lana and Gem had a turn. It was a little windy, but it allowed me to reminisce about the time I kayaked the Kent coast with some of my colleagues.
We finished the day off with an Indian takeaway and yet another surprise for Andrew. We led him to believe we were coming to Sydney for a long weekend and we were flying home with everyone on Monday evening. But Lana presented him with another gift box, this time with a starfish ornament inside and another ticket… a cruise ticket!
Last year (around July time) Lana told us she was thinking about taking Andrew on a cruise from Sydney to the South Pacific Islands. Almost immediately Gem and I reviewed our finances and asked if we could come along too! This was too much of a good opportunity to miss, a perfect way to holiday with them before we headed off on our big adventure, and fortunately, she said: “of course!”
Andrew’s face again was a picture. Not quite realising how Lana had managed to keep this all from him, pay for everything without him realising, he was certainly counting his lucky stars to have such a wonderful wife!
So whilst Andrew was soaking it all up and we were all very excited to finally have all secrets out in the open, we all headed out to the Blue Mountains early doors on Monday so we could see them before the guys got their flight. We didn’t have to be at the port at Circular Quays until 4 pm either.
We got to the Blue Mountains in about 2 hours and they did not disappoint. We enjoyed the incredible views from walking along a couple of walking trails, and then taking a glass bottom cable cart and the steepest railway track in the world where we got a fantastic view of the impressive “3 Sisters”.
We got back into the CBD just after 3 pm and were ready to board our ship whilst the others, unfortunately, had to catch their flight back to Adelaide. The ship looked huge! It was there at the Sydney port, overlooking the Opera House, beside the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We couldn’t quite believe this was going to be our home for the next 9 nights!
We boarded with no worries, a lot of people had already got on the boat earlier and made their way to the bar. Our suitcases were taken from us and delivered to our stateroom. We had a room just up the corridor from Andrew and Lana’s which was so handy when we were meeting up in the mornings and to meet for dinner. Halle loved running up and down the corridor between the two rooms too which was cute to watch.
Our first couple of days were sea days. We enjoyed the ships facilities including their swimming pools, spas, shops (the one shop) and restaurants. The food was so good, the first night we were treated to a 3-course meal and were all confused whether or not we had to pay extra for this, but turns out this set the tone for the rest of our meals! It felt like we were eating out at a 5-star restaurant every night! Our waitress and waiter every night – Gerladyn and Yoga really did make our evenings that more enjoyable and were a pleasure to be served by every night.
Special mention to the inappropriately named “Windjammer“ restaurant which served us during lunchtimes. I’d like to report my flatulence remained steady and consistent throughout the 9 days at sea (not sure about the rest of my party or the other guest on board).
During the cruise, we stopped off at a total of four islands in the South Pacific. The first was Lifou, New Caledonia – an excellent island for a spot for snorkelling, Lifou also had a small market and a beautiful church overlooking the bay. We spent most of the day checking out the reef and chilling on the beach. We also had our first experience of drinking coconut milk straight from the fruit itself.
The second Island was Mystery Island, Vanuatu – The smallest of the Islands that we could see all of from our ship. The island had a much larger market, despite being uninhabited, and more awesome reefs to check out using our snorkels. We saw the bluest starfish and so many other tropical fish as the current took us from one end of the beach to the other. The island was so small it only took us 30 minutes to walk around. This was our favourite of the four.
Next stop, Port Vila, Vanuatu – Much larger and more tourist orientated, as soon as we got off the ship and onto mainland we were crowded by about 100 or so taxi drivers looking for our business. Hounded is one word to describe it, but I guess they are just trying to make a living. Based on a recommendation from our waitress the night before we decided to opt for the water taxi which was only $5 each and took us straight over to the centre of town. One of the taxi drivers “Isa” chatted with us as we were lead over to our water taxi and said that he would meet us on the other side. Little did I know he was actually there to greet us after of 15 minute trip across the water with about 5 others still trying to get our business.
After much deliberation and a few arguments between him and another driver, we struck a deal and Isa became our personal chauffeur for the rest of the day. We actually worked out that we saved just under $200 by doing the things we did this way instead of booking directly with the cruise ship excursion service.
We visited the island’s waterfalls, had a delicious lunch at the beach bar and stopped off to check out the duty-free in the centre of town. Although all of my companions had doubts about Isa when he tracked us all the way across the other side of the island. I knew that when he had spoken to me as we got off the ship, he was a man I could trust and in the end, our day in Port Vila was one to remember.
Our last stop was Noumea, New Caledonia – The most developed of the Islands we had stopped off at. We jumped straight onto the “Hop on, Hop off” bus that took us around the island. Our first stop was the local market, and then onto the beach. We were keen to get across to “Duck Island” a hot spot for snorkelling and sightings of sea turtles. On arrival at the small water taxi hut, the queue was already building and we knew we’d have to wait around to get the water taxi across. With another excursion booked that afternoon, me and Gem decided to hire a kayak to get over to the island, which took us about 15 minutes of hard paddling. We probably got there quicker than if we had waited for the next water taxi!
We started snorkelling and looking for that elusive sea turtle that me and Gemma were longing to see. After about an hour in the water to no avail, no sea turtles but some stunning fish and coral reef. I even saw a reef shark in the distance, about the length of my leg! Although pretty harmless to humans, it was the first time I’d seen a shark in the wild and could feel my heart beating a little faster when I saw it swim off into the deep blue.
We finished our tour of Noumea on their famous “Tchou-Tchou Train” which took us around other parts of the city and understand more about the Noumea’s history and culture.
Back on board the ship that evening and we couldn’t help but feel that our holiday was slowly, coming to an end. Two more sea days of doing absolutely nothing was the perfect end to a fantastic trip. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relaxed in my entire life. Docked back in Sydney we spent the day exploring the botanic gardens and Darling Harbour before catching the train to the airport and back to Adelaide.
We were lucky enough to still be in Adelaide to celebrate Lana’s birthday, where Andrew surprised her with a kayak! Logistically a nightmare, but the having the van certainly helped and Andrew pulled it off nicely! We all went out for dinner that evening at Fork n Chopsticks down at West Lakes. Fortunately, we were also still around to celebrate Finn’s first birthday party at the Wittunga Botanic Gardens in Blackwood. It was a lovely afternoon/evening and was a great way to catch-up with everyone and also say our goodbyes before we set-off on our trip.
Throughout the last two weeks, we’ve been frantically getting the van ready for our 6 month trip around the coastline of Australia. There were still a lot of things we needed to tick off our list, including setting up our dual battery system, finishing off our storage unit, finding some under bed storage, final furnishings and decorations and deciding where everything was going to go plus many more smaller jobs.
Thankful to say, we got everything ready and we were only held up a couple of days as we waited for a few items to arrive in the post. Mainly so that I would be able to work remotely, having secured some ongoing freelance work from my previous employer.
With the van now ready, we are ready to set off on what could be an adventure of a lifetime…
Tom